The FCC has been given the go ahead to bring partially subsidized broadband speeds to around 14 million households. The plan was on hold after several telephone companies sued the FCC back in 2011, but with a successful appeal, the wheel is back in animation.
The program is known as Connect America, and it is the largest portion of the $8 billion Universal Service Fund that target schools, low-income families and others. The idea is to deliver telecommunication links to people who may never experience it due their location.
Back in 2012, the FCC noted in a report that nearly 14 million households were without high-speed broadband internet service. If you're not aware, the Connect America plan not only aims to deliver broadband connection to new homes, but to use a small portion of customer bills in other areas to help fund the expenditure.
This is one of the reasons why telecommunication companies were up in arms and wanted to stop what the FCC planned to do from going forward. You see, the plan based on these companies, threatened to eat into the subsidies they receive.
The cost of this whole plan will begin at $300 million and up to $500 million as part of the annual budget.
"Congress has directed the commission to ensure that all Americans receive the benefit of 21st-century communications," Kim Hart, an F.C.C. spokeswoman, said in a statement. "With today's across-the-board affirmance of our landmark 2011 reforms, the commission has tools in hand to accomplish that critical goal."
This is an important victory for the FCC, as the decision comes at a time when net neutrality is being seriously challenged in the United States. Earlier this month, the FCC proposed a set of rules that will either permit or ban ISPs from requiring that some companies pay up for faster Internet connection to their services.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to the final vote later this year. By then, we should have an idea where the Internet is going, and what steps consumers in the United States would have to take.
It is clear that if ISPs get the upper hand, consumers will be forced to pay more for the services they use, and that's never a good thing.
